TURKIYE- Columnist Yilmaz Oztuna comments on Turkey's EU membership bid. A summary of his column is as follows:
If Turkey had pursued a sound policy, it would have become a member of the European Union at the same time as Greece (in 1981), and before Spain, Portugal, Austria, Sweden and Finland. Membership was not as difficult and complicated before. It is predictable that our incredible clumsiness and incompetence in this area would have negative results. What else did we expect? So we shouldn't cry, complain or blame other people. We should recognize our mistakes and work to correct them. Just like every great nation, we should criticize ourselves. One cannot gain honor through self-praise. If things go awry in Brussels at the end of this year, everything will change in Turkey. Obviously Europe will be harmed, too, but it has the ability to put up with even such appalling harms. But Turkey, in such a case, would suffer great economic and politic losses. What's more, our democracy will be put in a worse situation, because they will go against poor Turkey, excluded from Europe, blaming it and completely dependent on Washington. For example, they might stir up the Armenian and Kurdish issues and anger us. If they go against us, our system will become tougher and our freedoms will be restricted. The nation will become poorer and will be on strained terms with the government. Finally, Turkey will display the typical characteristics of a Third World country. There are those in foreign quarters who would like Turkey to be reduced to such a state. Even today Turkey has such ruthless and merciless enemies and rivals. Many countries would like to prevent a strong Turkey's establishing firm relations with other Turkic-speaking countries. Ankara's common sense and calm and our ability to act rapidly can save us from falling into traps set by such countries.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION